And I don't think that success is going to destroy me at this point in my life, like I used to think.

I wanted to be a songwriter.I didn't so much want to be a performer.I more grew into that just from being a songwriter.

Being in Vietnam changed him [Johnny Cash] fundamentally. He was devastated when we went into Iraq.

Sarah Palin is a great example of someone that just stirs the pot for the sake of the attention. No vision, no critical thinking, no backup to her statements. Just to incite little riots everywhere and capitalize upon it financially. To me, she is a microcosm of the ultimate cynicism in American politics.

And I don't think that success is going to destroy me at this point in my life, like I used to think.

As John Adams said, all democracies will eventually self-destruct. We seem to be doing it very quickly.

I'm a songwriter. My voice just serves what I'm writing about. So to let all that go, I mean, bring the sensibilities of it actually to the song choices, but to just be the interpreter was incredibly liberating and really fun.